Anthony likes helping people reach their true potential. Being the victim of his own fears and insecurities in his own business, he has decided to help others create more opportunities.
The stage is set in 1997. Monica dates a millionaire who tells his house to switch the lights on, and even dim them for a romantic atmosphere. At the time, such futuristic technology was only on TV, and at best only available to very wealthy people. A few years ago Apple launched Siri and now Amazon is getting into every home with Alexa. These technologies are disrupting the business world and they soon will impact the restaurant world. Here is how you can prepare your restaurant for when Alexa becomes the norm in the UK.
Why Alexa matters
At first, Alexa seemed like a gadget. Most people laughed about it. Now its number of users is growing exponentially. It is improving at a stupendous pace as well. According to this article, Alexa has passed the 15 000 skills, well ahead of its competitors. Now the Friends episode has grown old.
Not only that, but Alexa is becoming a major search engine. Some predict it will overtake Google as a search engine. The reason for this is very simple. Humans are lazy by nature. We always prioritise what takes the least amount of effort, in the least amount of time. When you have an Alexa in your home, you are less likely to reach for your computer to start a web search.
Amazon know what they’re doing too. Few people can actually remember the time when they only sold books and CDs. Now they are selling practically everything and delivering it the same day. For restaurants, that means you need to pay attention to how things evolve, especially as more people are using online ordering.
How Alexa could disrupt the restaurant world
Being now one of the most used search engines in the world, Alexa can now direct your potential customers to you or your competitors. It all depends on how well you are referenced in their database. Right now chances are that if your Google ranking is good, your Alexa ranking shouldn’t be terrible.
The next step for you is to offer something Alexa customers actually want. Fortunately, this is simpler than it looks. Alexa customers either will want their food delivered without getting up from their sofa: “Alexa, would you be so kind as to order me three pepperoni pizzas?” 15 minutes later, the pizzas are delivered and paid for.
Big-chain restaurants are going to be the first to jump on the bandwagon. If you don’t want to be left behind, keep an extra close watch on Orderscape. In the UK, Alexa hasn’t swamped the market enough to make a huge difference yet, but it’s only a matter of time.
What you can do right now to be ready
Sitting down at a table is not gonna go out of fashion anytime soon. A lot of people, however, will prefer enjoying their food in the comfort of their home. For restaurants, that means you are scalable as a business. Gone are the days when you could only rely on filling your restaurant room. The first step to getting ready for the big shift is to have reliable online ordering system.
The second step is to look at how Orderscape is penetrating the online ordering market. It may take years for Brits to use it, if they ever do. All of this is just speculation at this stage. However, if Alexa captures the British market, it will be easy to adapt if you already have a few basic steps in place.
Getting yourself ready for online ordering simply means managing your inventory and your kitchen staff differently. You can easily outsource the rest of the logistics at a minimal cost and maximum profit.
Wrap-up
Orderscape is coming to the UK. It is only a matter of time before Brits become as lazy as Americans. Your safest bet is to be a pioneer in that disruption. Amazon was a pioneer in online bookselling back when it started. Nobody would disagree that they are doing OK at the moment…
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